Friday, July 29, 2016

After a heartbreaking miscarriage exactly one year ago, and what felt like the longest pregnancy ever, I'm so excited to share Finn's birth story with you. Also SUPER excited to have a story to share that doesn't start with a scheduled induction!

One day old

Even though I was only 38 weeks, I was convinced this kid was never going to come without some force. I was actually supposed to be at my final prenatal appointment, scheduling my induction just 5 hours after he was born. After months of contractions, I had still made no progress at my appointment the week before. Not dilated, baby still very high. Quite discouraging news--even if it doesn't really mean anything.

Tuesday, May 31st, however, I had probably the fewest consistent contractions that I'd had in months. That morning, I took Jack and Lucy out to run errands. We went to Home Depot to get plants for the garden. We went to a local nursery to buy more plants when Home Depot didn't have what we wanted.

This particular nursery has several large fish tanks, a gold fish pond with turtles and a bunch of people exotic birds. We walked around a long time and the kids had a blast. Since they had been awesome little assistant shoppers (and because it was the one thing that always sounded good--and because they have diet Dr. Pepper), I took them to Chick-fil-a for lunch.

Watching the fish and turtles

After lunch, we came home. I was apparently feeling ambitious, because I let the kids eat ice cream on the porch--which resulted in an impromptu bath time.

Later, when Kate got home from school, I took her to Walmart and Target to get some supplies for a school project and a new bottle of insulin. While at Walmart, I texted Kraig, "Maybe we can just go to the hospital tonight." Haha. I even called my mom and told her I figured I'd go into labor after using the new bottle of insulin once. It's not cheap, so I had put off getting a new vial until the day I needed it!

Walmart selfies!

After putting the kids to bed, I decided to go for a walk. I walked 5 laps around the church parking lot, having my normal, occasional contractions. After I came home, I bounced on my yoga ball for a few minutes and we went to bed around 11:00 (after taking my insulin from my new vial, of course!). I was having basically no contractions at all--very unusual for me.

I woke up a little later, at 12:30 a.m. on June 1st, to a really strong contraction. It surprised me, but I fell back asleep. Ten minutes later, another contraction hit. As soon as it was over, I sat up. I knew if another contraction hit that I wouldn't handle it well in that position. After the inital two contractions, they were coming every 2-4 mins apart and lasting up to 2 minutes each. That left very little time in between.

I tried every position possible to get comfortable, but the pain was barely manageable. I was still convinced the contractions would stop, so I decided to give it an hour before waking Kraig. In hindsight, this was just stupid! This is my fourth baby, but my first where I wasn't induced. I truly didn't think my body was capable of labor on its own!

In between contractions, I sat on my ball, playing Mahjong on the iPad and using a contraction timer app on my phone. I was in severe denial. Haha.

After an hour, and literally being on my hands and knees to get through each contraction, I woke Kraig and told him I thought it was time. He called in help for our other kids at 2 a.m. While waiting, I decided I'd be more comfortable laboring outside, where I could be a little louder without waking the kids. Nothing like being on your hands and knees on the blacktop driveway! Our fabulous help, Winnie, arrived around 2:30 a.m. and we headed to the hospital.

I was getting nervous about having Finn in the car at this point, so I was trying to hurry Kraig along. Stop signs aren't necessary at 2 in the morning, right?

We arrived at the ER and I had two contractions before even making it into the building. Another one hit about as soon as we got to the registration desk, and without hesitation they grabbed a wheel chair and quickly took us up to L&D. The girl pushing the wheel chair was basically running with it. She did NOT want to deliver a baby in the elevator.

I was "checked in" to the hospital computer system at 2:48.

After the ridiculous check in process, where I was on my hands and knees moaning in the thankfully empty lobby, I was taken to a triage room and asked for a urine sample. They were clearly not sensing the urgency of the situation!

As I was sitting on the toilet, my water broke--which sounded like an explosion. It was so loud, my husband and the nurse heard it through the closed bathroom door. The nurse rushed in and helped me out to the bed. I had no desire to lay down, but they insisted that I must so they could check me. Laying down was NOT comfortable. At. All.

As one nurse was checking me, two more were undressing me and I was suddenly wearing a hospital gown. The nurse announced that I was 10 cm and I felt SO relieved. I was afraid that she'd say like 3 cm and I knew I couldn't manage this level of pain much longer. They immediately called my doctor and wheeled me across the hall to a delivery room, which they were still setting up as I was moving onto the bed. They quickly tried to attach monitors and put in an IV in between contractions.

I was pushing almost immediately and the hospitalist came in to attend the birth. He had sleep lines on his face, which was hilarious. Before long, a doctor from my practice came in, and Finn was born quickly after that.

From the time we reached the registration desk to when Finn was born was 27 minutes.

He was born at 3:15 am, after a labor that lasted only 2 hours and 45 minutes.

It was completely shocking, but awesome. Once he was out, I realized there were nearly ten people in the room. Apparently, the speedy delivery was their entertainment for the night. L&D was VERY quiet at that particular time.

I was so thrilled to have my second unmedicated birth. Even better to not tear and need stitches. I was GBS positive, however, and there was no time for antibiotics during delivery, so we had to stay a full 48 hours for observation. But he's perfect!

Little man was already above his birth weight at day 5 and clearly is nursing like a champ. So thankful to have him in my arms and not my belly! And even more grateful that we made it to the hospital and didn't deliver him in the car!

Meeting the rest of the crew:)

Eight weeks later...

We're settled in pretty well and even getting some sleep! He weighs around 13 pounds and is starting to smile and coo like it's his job. He's getting too big too fast, but we are so in love with him!